Sarah Majoras drowning case is still open

By
David Foster, The Trentonian

Friday, March 29, 2013

Despite the release of a final update on the death of Sarah Majoras nearly three weeks ago from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office classifying the drowning as a tragic accident, the case remains open.

That new information on the investigation of the 39-year-old Lambertville resident’s death appeared in a response from the prosecutor’s office this week to an open records request made by The Trentonian.

“We’re still waiting for all the reports from the medical examiner’s office,” Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III said Friday afternoon when questioned about the status of the case. “We speak conditionally for a reason because we don’t know for a 100 percent on these things.”

Majoras’ body was recovered Jan. 30 from the D&R canal near the lock just south of Bridge Street in Lambertville. She went missing early in the morning on Jan. 26 after leaving John & Peter’s bar in New Hope, Pa.

Majoras crossed the New Hope-Lambertville bridge and was last seen at 2:15 a.m. on surveillance video near Lambert Lane in Lambertville.

Kearns’ office issued a press release on March 11 stating the medical examiner had “completed his report which includes toxicology results.”

In the press release, the medical examiner ruled the cause of Majoras’ death was drowning and the manner was accidental. It also stated lab results also indicated a high level of alcohol content at the time of Majoras’ death.

But in a phone message left from the medical examiner’s office this week to The Trentonian, a doctor said the autopsy had yet to be complete. The doctor added he anticipates the report to be concluded by next week.

Kearns doesn’t expect the determination to change when the autopsy is final, but there is a possibility.

“All the facts to this point have led us to a conclusion that it’s a tragic accident,” Kearns said. “Of course, if something were to indicate otherwise, then we would properly react to that.”

The prosecutor denies that his office rushed to judgement on the Majoras’ death due to the autopsy being incomplete.

“I think what we’ve tried to do to is inform the public to the best that we could because of the great concern,” Kearns said. “We have to present to them what we see at this point in time.”

Majoras’ death conjures memories to the 2000 case of local musician David Anderson, who disappeared under similar circumstances and was later found dead.

Both left John & Peter’s the night they went missing and crossed the New Hope-Lambertville bridge before they were found dead in the same canal.

Anderson frequently performed at John & Peter’s, where Majoras worked as a bartender.

Kearns couldn’t immediately provide the status of Anderson’s case.

The prosecutor’s office considered Majoras’ death to have been a tragic accident based a number of circumstances, including her physical condition, the icy cold weather, her personal property remaining in her possession and the lack of suspicious circumstances.